St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-12-03

Lieutenant General p. II Sheridan has
presented his annual report to the Secss,
tary of War. From the report it appears
that at the date of the last consolidated
returns the army consisted of 1900 Off
GERS and 24,236 men, including Indian
scouts. Troops have been continually
occupied in patrolling the Oklahoma
country, and have been successful in
keeping intruders out of that region
The gradual spread of railroads through
out the territory can, however, ulti
mately have but one effect, and General
Sheridan is now of opinion that Con-
gress may well consider the ACCESSIBILITY
of opening up portions, at least, of this
country to settlement.
In order to quiet the restless young
men among the Crow Indians, the report
says, General Kruger has been authorized
to enlist about thirty Of their number as
scouts and take them to Fort Custer.
The Crows have always been friendly,
and make it boast that they have never
killed a white man, and it would be
great pity if anything should now oc
cur to disturb the peaceful relations Of
SO long standing. General Sheridan is
confident that General Ruger will be able
to effect a permanent settlement that will
be satisfactory to the Crows as we'll as to
the government.
In regard to the concentration of the
army in the larger posts, the report says
that the work on the new post at Den
yer, where it is proposed to place ten
companies, will shortly be commenced;
that at San Antonio has been progressing
favorably during the year; the ground
for the new post near Chicago will pass
into the possession of the government at
an early day, and at Fort Smelling both
the reservation and other attendant con-
ditions are favorable for the establish
ment of a large garrison, and only some
additional buildings are required for their
accommodation. The reconstruction of
Fort Riley has been actively prosecuted
during the year, but before it can be
completed additional appropriations will
be necessary.
General Sheridan does not look favor
ably upon the proposition of General
Miles to separate the Indians now at San
Carlos into several camps about 100 or
200 miles apart, deeming it for the best
interest of the Territory of Arizona and
of the Indians themselves that they
should be kept in one body and the duties
necessary for their control concentrated
at single point. Divided into different
bands, he says, each location might be-
come the centre of disturbances, and the
difficulties of their supervision would be |
greatly increased.
General Sheridan expresses regret that |
the very rapid decrease in the number of |
assertions from the army during the pre- |
vious two years has not been continued;
the increase is, however, very slight, |
being only about one-half of one per |
cent. more than last year. The assertions |
as a general rule, he says, are mostly con-
fined to soldiers in the earlier years of |
their first enlistment, and to men who |
enlist only for temporary occupation, |
for transportation to a different section
of the country, or for apparently the
mere pleasure of deserving. These latter
form no inconsiderable part vi the whole |
number; and as it is not possible to rec
ognize them l.E.less they happen to be |
PERSONAL, known to the recruiting
officer, it is probable that they will con-
tinue annually to swell the number of |
deserters.
General Sheridan renews his previous
touching the increase
of the army by 5000 men and perfecting
tbs organization of the infantry arm by
I addition of two ma jors and two COM
| 5 to each regiment.
itelative to the revision of tactics 1t is
said: The great advance in the material
of war has also occasioned vital changes
in the manner of handling men in action,
and our tactics are therefore no longer
we'll adapted to the present conditions
For these reasons it is my intention to
at an early day a board of Off
GERS to consider this subject and to pre-
pare or recommend such revisions of the
tactics as will place them more COM
pletely in harmony with the advance
methods of conducting war.
Upon the subject of retirement, Gen.
Sheridan says:
But the measure which would most pro-
mote the efficiency of the service would be
the passage of law authorizing the immedi-
ate retirement of those officers, about eighty
in number, in whose cases such action has
already been recommended by military
boards, or who have for some time been alb
sent ON account of sickness from their COM
mands with but little prospect of ultimate
Their enforced continuation on
he active list though doing no duty, has
eft companies without their proper compile
ment of officers and brought additional labor
On other men, while at the same time depriv
ng them of merited promotion These
eighty officers owe their disability to causes
Incident to the service, in many cases to
wounds received in battle, and have we'll ;
earned the rest that an honorable retirement
would afford.
Attention is called to the needs of the
army in the matter of improved small :
,rms, and General Sheridan says: !
The Springfield rifle still remains the wea- =,
,on of our service, and it is undoubtedly a c
-ery good one. In my opinion, however, :
he magazine gun must be the arm of the
uture, and a glance at foreign armies shows
hat future to be very near at hand. Every I
eading country abroad has either adopted =
magazine gun or been actively engaged in
experiments looking to the development of
n effective system. With US, progress in
his direction appears to be very slow, and as T
ar as know, no very decided steps have been q